Comparative Literature

The Department of Comparative Literature offers comparative literature as a secondary field in Harvard Griffin GSAS to enrich the education of PhD students in other departments who seek to research and teach across the institutional boundaries of national languages and literatures. When they become faculty members, individuals specializing in a national literature may be called on to teach comparative courses or courses in general or world literature. The secondary field in comparative literature prepares them to do so by introducing them to basic issues in the field.

Literatures in a single language constitute a coherent tradition, but comparative literature seeks to develop an awareness of how literary works move across borders, both in the original language and in translation. The department calls attention to theoretical issues shared not only across the boundaries of languages but also across very different traditions. 

Prerequisites 

• An ability to work in literatures in at least three languages. Normally, this will be demonstrated by coursework in which at least some of the primary readings are in the original language.
• In certain circumstances, the director of graduate studies (DGS) may waive the requirement that competence in a language be demonstrated by coursework and instead permit the student to substitute a translation exam. If English is used as one of the languages, the other two languages should show some breadth; that is, they cannot be closely allied, either linguistically or by academic convention (e.g., Spanish and Portuguese, Urdu and Hindi, classical and modern Chinese, or Greek and Latin). The judgment regarding what can legitimately count for the set of three languages is at the discretion of the DGS.

Requirements

1. Four courses in comparative literature, one of which must be the Comparative Literature Proseminar and two of which must be other comparative literature seminars at the 200 level. The remaining course requirement will be met by either 200-level seminars in comparative literature or 100-level comparative literature courses approved for graduate credit.
2. Successful completion of a second-year paper of 25–30 pages (7,500–9,000 words) on a comparative topic, as required for students in comparative literature. Students doing a secondary field in comparative literature do not need to submit the second-year paper by the beginning of the G3 year, but they are encouraged to submit this paper as soon thereafter as possible.

Contact the director of graduate studies, Professor Panagiotis Roilos, with any further questions.

Secondary Field in Translation Studies 

The Graduate Secondary Field in Translation Studies (GSFTS) offers graduate students the opportunity to undertake sustained study of the theory and practice of translation, broadly understood across languages, media, and the arts. The secondary field in translation studies has a triple rationale: intellectual, multidisciplinary, and practical. By examining a range of linguistic encounters and cultural exchanges, students pursuing the secondary field have the opportunity to root their translation work within their knowledge of at least two languages while expanding their engagement with the craft of translation.

As they move through the curriculum, graduate students do more than simply examine how meaning is transferred from one language to another; they acquire the knowledge necessary to intervene in current scholarly debates in the growing field of translation studies, as well as the ability to teach translation to undergraduate and graduate students. While deepening their expertise in at least two languages, students enroll in a range of courses offered across departments that consider theoretical issues raised by and through the process of translation and will then complete a capstone project, supervised by a faculty advisor.  

The secondary field provides enrolled students with opportunities for professional development, training in translation pedagogy, and an additional credential in today’s extremely competitive academic job market. It complements students’ main PhD programs while providing the competitive edge they need to distinguish themselves as outstanding candidates for jobs at research universities and liberal arts colleges in North America, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. Faculty with expertise in one or two national languages and literatures are often now expected to teach broad-ranging comparative courses in and on translation. Even a cursory look at the MLA Job List shows that more and more advertisements for junior searches make explicit the desirability of practical and theoretical knowledge of translation studies as proof of interdisciplinarity and crossover intellectual capacity for a prospective faculty member.

Admission Eligibility 

A student may apply for the secondary field in translation studies at any point in their academic progression. Students from any PhD program in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) may apply; students may pursue only one secondary field. Students in the comparative literature PhD program who are interested in the translation studies secondary field must ensure that no courses taken for the field are double-counted toward the PhD; that is, any courses counted toward the secondary field, including Translation Studies 280, may not also be used to meet requirements for the doctoral program.

Requirements 

The Graduate Secondary Field in Translation Studies involves the following requirements:  

• Translation Studies 280: Proseminar in Translation Studies. Offered every other year, the proseminar combines the study of translation theory with translation practice and emphasizes the development of projects that have the potential to become capstone projects. 
• Two graduate-level seminars in translation studies, including, for example, Translation Studies 260: Literary Translation Workshop, which, with recurring support from the FAS Elson Arts Fund, pairs professional translators and source language experts with students as they workshop their manuscripts-in-progress. With approval of the student’s advisor and the Translation Studies Executive Committee, a summer internship in publishing, literary translation, or design may take the place of one of these two seminars.
• A capstone project that features a substantive translation, of variable length (dependent upon the difficulty of the languages involved), potentially publishable in a scholarly journal or as a short book. The capstone project will be accompanied by a critical essay of 4,000–7,000 words, or, if approved by the student’s advisor and the Executive Committee, a digital humanities project or public exhibition. As they complete the capstone project, graduate students will enroll in a semester-long 300-level Translation Studies reading course with their faculty advisor. The project will be supervised by the student’s translation studies advisor and evaluated by two appropriate readers from the Harvard faculty who, together with the advisor, will be responsible for assessing the completed project. 

Advising 

The Executive Committee of GSFTS will appoint, from among itself or—if a language is not represented on the committee—from among the experts on the Harvard faculty, an appropriate advisor for each student in the secondary field. This advisor will offer tailored guidance throughout the curriculum and on the capstone project.

For additional information, consult the Harvard Griffin GSAS Translation Studies policy.

Secondary in Fields in Other Disciplines 

Secondary fields allow PhD students to broaden their course of study and enhance the professional reach of their degree. PhD students interested in pursuing a secondary field take four or five graduate courses in a discipline, interdisciplinary area, or intellectually coherent subfield. The program offering the secondary field provides an intellectual rationale and outlines the package of courses required. 

Please see the Secondary Fields section for more information about the secondary fields offered and their requirements

Contact

Contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Luis Manuel Girón-Negrón, with any further questions. 

Further information regarding courses and programs of study in comparative literature may be found on the Harvard University Department of Comparative Literature website.